


What a Catch

by BlueDysania



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fisherman Sans, Light Angst, M/M, Mer Grillby, Near Drowning, No Character Death, Pre-Relationship, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 23:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19800478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDysania/pseuds/BlueDysania
Summary: For nearly a week, all the nets have been coming up burnt. Sans is about to discover why.





	What a Catch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enneadodeca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enneadodeca/gifts).



> inspired by the art of enneadodeca

Sans could only sigh in dismay as the net came out of the water, “another burnt net…” The edges pristine but the center completely gone with singed loose mesh the only clue as to what had happened.

Sans silently hauled the much lighter net into the boat and hung his head in his hands for a moment. Breathing in deeply to stem the burning in his sockets, he lifted his head and began making his way back to the docks.

This had been happening for nearly a week now. Every fishing net he’d cast came out burnt. It had been very strange when his first had been ruined. Sans, for lack of a better explanation for a net _burning_ underwater, wrote it off as simply an old net that had degraded shockingly fast.

But then it happened again, and again. Every day his nets were being destroyed and for a full week, Sans had been unable to bring home anything to sell. The fish he managed to catch with his fishing rod were only just enough to feed himself and his brother.

Pulling into the docks, he secured the _Tortoise_ to a peg and hefted his metal lunch box and fishing rod with one arm and dragged the burnt net behind him. He threw it on a pile of similarly destroyed nets just off the dock and took the lunch box in his now free hand with a sigh.

Trudging toward the path back into town, Sans passed a few other fishermen and overheard their bitter exchange.

“My nets were fried again!”

“Mine too!”

“It’s been a week…”

“I wonder what’s causing it.”

Sans averted his eyes down as he passed. That was the question wasn’t it? Nets weren’t supposed to burn underwater. It was unnatural and very, very strange. No one had an answer, although some had asked the elder monster who lived in the seaside shack down the beach. Gerson had apparently only huffed and grumbled something like how the fishermen were asking for it before slamming the door.

Sans had asked later what _that_ meant and been snapped at that it was senile nonsense.

Loud shouting caught his attention and he watched as another fisherman docked and started throwing his stuff around, a burnt net flailing in the wind in his hand. In his anger, a trash bin was knocked overboard. Trash spread out on the waves like a blanket.

Sans looked at the others on the docks. No one even blinked, in fact he watched one of them crunch a beer can and chuck it as far as he could out to the sea, his fellows cheering at the distant splash.

Quietly, he made his way down to the sand and set his stuff down. He rolled up his sleeves and entered the gentle surf, taking care with each step. Bones sank and as a skeleton monster, he played chance every time he went out on the water. Luckily the waves were gentle and most of the trash came right to him. Darts of color around his legs made him huff.

“where are all of you when i’m fishing, huh?”

The fish merrily swarmed the shallows around his legs for a short while, steadily disappearing as he scooped up the trash. Bunching it up in his hands, he saw a few items shine in the distance, much too far away to attempt to retrieve.

Sans stood in the salty breeze and cool water until he could no longer see the sparkles of tin and aluminum on the horizon before making his way back to shore to gather what washed up as well.

Sans woke up from his doze slowly and lifted his straw hat. His fishing rod was undisturbed, lure floating calmly on the surface. A groan left him as he sat up. He’d been out here for hours and thus far there had been no bites, not even nibbles. Sans looked to the net he’d cast and felt faint at the thought of hauling it up.

It wasn’t even about the knowledge that it would be burnt like all the rest of them. It was part of it, sure, but Sans hadn’t had more than a couple slices of bread and cheese and fried fish in the last three days. Papyrus was doing his best but they could only stretch their meagre stores so much.

Sans was supposed to feed them; Papyrus’ was in an apprenticeship and wouldn’t be paid until next year when he started taking commissions. And Sans was failing. His thin magic reserves were telling in just how exhausted he was.

This would probably be the last time. Replacement nets weren't cheap. He would have to sell his boat, maybe his fishing rod too. Get a job somewhere in town. At least they’d have money even if market food was more expensive then just catching a meal.

Still, Sans reached into the water, hoping, and whispered desperately, “please don’t be burnt…”

He just felt the brush of mesh on his fingers when something snagged at his wrist. He barely had time to voice a sound of surprise at the temperature of it before whatever it was clasped down like iron and _pulled_. Water swallowed his scream and Sans flailed as he struggled to right himself. Twisting his arm did nothing to free him from whatever had caught his wrist either.

Something bright flared in front of his sockets which had shut tight at impact with the water. Opening his sockets was a jerk reaction, the adrenaline already beginning to wear off. And Sans might have gasped if he were not underwater, falling still.

It was a mer-monster!

Suddenly, things began to click into place. The muted glow of the mer’s upper half, the slight wave at its head… it was a flame mer-monster! That explained the nets! For some reason, this mer was burning all of their nets. By the glower in it, his, vibrantly glowing eyes, it was furious about something…

Darkness began to crowd the edges of Sans’ vision and he vaguely realized that the adrenaline rush had burned off his already low reserves of magic.

“… You… You land-dwellers are ruining… everything! …You fill our home with your trash…” The mer hissed and even as his fins flared threateningly behind it, Sans marveled at the sound of his voice. Like music with a faint crackling that reminded Sans of the hearth at home.

Sans blinked heavily as the water dragged at his bones but it didn’t incite the panic he normally felt at sinking. Instead he focused on the hand around his wrist that was suddenly feeling about his arm, pushing up the sleeve of his sweater. Hot touches trailed his radius and ulna and it felt nice against the chill of the ocean water.

“…Wait…” The mer-monster moved closer, much, much closer. Eyes like the sun squinted at him but Sans’ skull felt hazy and dazzled by sight of yellow and orange flames dancing in the water to wonder why. “… Are …you’re the _skeleton_ … Oh no…”

Something that sounded like an apology whistled by his skull as his sockets drifted shut. The sensation of warmth, strong and secure, surrounding him. The heavy drag of moving upwards. A burst of wind brushing across his face.

He drifted but somehow, he found himself laid out on his makeshift chair in his boat. Lidded sockets cracked open to the sunshine. He was rocked by the waves but Sans could feel the distinct sensation of being pushed against the waves.

And every now and then a voice that sounded of crackling fire and whistling instruments in duet spoke softly.

“… forgive me, friend… Gerson will help you… you’ll be alright…”

The guilt in their tone was so thick. Sans wished he could summon his voice but everything was working against him. Warmed by the sun and soothed by the rhythm of the waves, Sans fell asleep to the flame mer calling out for the elder turtle.

What a strange day.

Hopefully, when he woke up the mer-monster would be close by. He had so many _questions_!

**Author's Note:**

> tbc...?
> 
> reviews inspire~!


End file.
